1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an automatic lubricating oil feeding apparatus which automatically feeds lubricating oil at predetermined intervals to parts requiring the lubricating oil such as rotary driving parts of various kinds of machines where bearings are installed. In particular, the present invention relates to an automatic lubricating oil feeding apparatus which can easily conquer the resistance of tube passages of machine elements where bearings are installed and thus facilitate the lubricating oil feeding to the machine elements by forming a lubricating oil discharge structure having a mechanical type vertical suction pump structure.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Generally, a lubricating oil feeding apparatus feeds lubricating oil to rotary driving parts of a machine having a structure which continuously operates with friction such as bearings to prevent wear of the driving parts due to friction and to effect a smooth running of the machine.
Conventional lubricating oil feeding apparatuses for feeding lubricating oil to rotary elements have been developed and used.
One among the conventional apparatuses is a grease gun for manually feeding the lubricating oil at specified times. In this apparatus, managements of feeding times, parts to be fed with the lubricating oil, security of feeding manpower, etc., should be thoroughly performed. If such managements are not accurately performed, this causes an early wear or damage of the bearings, and thus the whole machine may be shocked.
In order to solve the above problems, there have been proposed automatic lubricating oil feeding apparatuses whereby the lubricating oil, which is filled in a housing connected to a bearing, is continually and intermittently fed to the bearings for a determined period. These apparatuses solve the problems involved in the manual type lubricating oil feeding apparatuses as described above, but still have other problems to be solved.
An initially developed automatic lubricating oil feeding apparatus uses the elasticity of a spring. According to this apparatus, the spring continuously presses the lubricating oil downward, and if the apparatus is used for a long time, an oil-separation phenomenon occurs in the grease which is the lubricating oil.
This oil-separation phenomenon causes the oil to slip out of a lubricating oil pouch as a specified period of time elapses, and only other components of the grease remain in the pouch. Accordingly, the grease is hardened as much as that the grease cannot be pushed out any more by the elasticity of the spring, and this causes the performance of the lubricating oil feeding apparatus to be degraded and the feeding of the grease to be impossible, thereby inviting the damage of the bearing.
Meanwhile, in case that a suction pressure is produced due to a high-speed rotation of the bearing, the grease is sucked into the bearing in one lot, and a severe heat generation due to an overfeeding of the lubricating oil invites a rapid deterioration of the grease, resulting in the wear and damage of the bearing.
If the spring having a small elasticity is used to overcome the above problems, the discharge pressure for feeding the grease is lowered, and this causes the grease not to be fed even by a small resistance of the tube passage.
Also, gas generation type and electrochemical type automatic lubricating oil feeding apparatuses have been proposed. The gas generation type apparatus uses the chemical reaction, and the electrochemical type apparatus uses a battery.
According to the above-described lubricating oil feeding apparatuses, the grease suction phenomenon in one lot can be avoided. However, since the gas pressure continuously acts on the grease, the oil-separation phenomenon also occurs as in the spring type lubricating oil feeding apparatus.
Also, since these apparatuses do not have the structure where the battery is easily separable, the consumed pouch is abrogated together with the battery to cause the environmental pollution. In addition, these apparatuses have the disadvantages that they do not provide diverse display of the operating state to cause inconvenience in use, and have a very low discharge pressure of grease.
It is an object of the present invention to solve the problems involved in the prior art, and to provide an automatic lubricating oil feeding apparatus which can remove the oil-separation phenomenon even if the apparatus is used for a long time by effecting a pumping operation for the suction and discharge of lubricating oil by the pressure of a flanger ascending and descending by a mechanical driving force, and thus by not applying a high pressure to a lubricating oil pouch.
It is another object of the present invention to provide an automatic lubricating oil feeding apparatus which can feed an accurate amount of lubricating oil by extruding a fixed quantity of lubricating oil by the stroke of a flanger.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide an automatic lubricating oil feeding apparatus which can easily conquer the resistance of tube passages of machine elements by a high discharge pressure by a flanger and thus facilitate the lubricating oil feeding to the machine elements.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide an automatic lubricating oil feeding apparatus which can facilitate the lubricating oil replacement work by exchanging only an lubricating oil pouch after the whole lubricating oil is consumed.
In order to achieve the above objects, there is provided an automatic lubricating oil feeding apparatus which comprises a top cover wherein a lubricating oil pouch is installed, and a main case screw-fastened to the top cover, and receiving therein a nipple secured to a shaft of a bearing, an information display window formed thereon, and a pump for controlling extrusion of a fixed amount of lubricating oil installed.
The interior of the main case is formed so that the pump is placed between an exit of the lubricating oil pouch and the nipple, and the lubricating oil is sucked and extruded by ascent and descent of the flanger of the pump. In the main case is installed a motor for driving the pump.